texture
coolography loves collaborations. Usually these are limited to the realm of fashion, music, and art, but rarely do we come across this in things gastronomical. In this case, Texture grabbed our attention with their bold claim to be the first restaurant founded by both a top chef and an award winning sommelier. The formidable pairing in question is Agnar Sverrisson (formerly of Gordon Ramsey’s Petrus, and head chef of Raymond Blanc’s Le Manoir Aux Quat’ Saisons), and Xavier Rousset (once UK sommelier of the year and also head sommelier at Le Manoir Aux Quat’ Saisons). The two respective experts in food and wine’s joint venture has already garnered a flurry of recognition and newcomer awards – so naturally, we felt it was our duty to see what the fuss is all about…
The Portman village is a semi-regular coolography haunt. Close to Marble Arch, it is an area where a typically lacking end of Oxford Street transforms into something altogether more refined within the space of a few footfalls. Feeling a world away from one of London’s busiest shopping destinations, Texture lies on Portman Street, maintaining an unassuming townhouse exterior. Its entrance marred slightly with an awkwardly placed cloakroom, we navigated past this and soon arrived to the high ceilinged main room, in which a bar separates small gatherings of post-work drinkers from more reserved dining patrons. Moving towards the restaurant area, we were seated at a corner table; comfortable at the extremities of the room, we felt sympathetic to the more centrally seated patrons who may have felt disturbed by the bustle of service around them.
After orders, we were presented with an assorted pile of tuiles, crisps, and pork scratchings, accompanied with refreshing dips. Building up our appetite further was a trio of bread offerings (brown, seeded and unseeded white), matched with a smooth and intensely flavoured tapenade, a fruity extra virgin olive oil, and of course, discs of ever present butter. The meal then truly began with an intriguingly titled appetiser of cauliflower soup and texture. Presented with a elliptic glass with a foamy, pale head, we dug in to find cool, soupy cauliflower. The ‘texture’ aspect soon came apparent, with the bottom of the glass containing satisfying nutty crunches, morsels of cauliflower, and hints of aniseed. The invigorating mix of textures, we soon came to realise, was to be a recurring theme to our meal.
Starters then arrived; pristine flakes of icelandic cod, laid scattered around a medley of sweet roasted cherry tomato, cured ham, bread crisps and pea purée. A second starter of roasted autumnal vegetables came bathed in a celery rich broth.
Onwards to mains and we opted for a dish of sea bream: meaty slabs of white flesh fanned over a lemony barley and prawn risotto. Punctuated by the occasional burst of shellfish flavour, the risotto was packed with flavour, and again, the texture of the barley offered a much more satisfying bite than the traditionally used rice.
A second main of pork belly impressed with its tenderness, falling apart beautifully with each forkful. Rich, fatty and meaty, the pork was accompanied suitably with the sweet, familiar tang of a plum and hoi sin in a spring roll.
A pre-dessert then came draped in pure theatre: a hauntingly impressive sorrel granita presented floating on a bowl of dry ice. Miniature theatrics aside, there was, again, a nice textural sensation of sweet crystalline chunks laid amidst a velvety cream.
Desserts were a less spectacular affair; an intense mass of Valrhona chocolate paired with a cream foam and coconut crisp, and an airy, crispy coconut cake, were, as expected, interestingly textured but less intriguing on the tastebuds.
Though curt, the service was polite throughout, and perfectly timed from dish to dish. In particular, we could find no fault in a certain south Asian waiter who ensured the table was never lacking for a moment for bread and water. More compliments are directed to the chef, of course, for pleasantly surprising us with a focus on the mix of textures found throughout each dish, and managing a great tasting experience in the process. Although some would fault the menu in places for over complicating dishes, we never felt this was disruptively so. Though our visit focused mostly on the Texture’s food, we will certainly be returning soon to the Texture’s bar for some thoroughly extensive imbibing. Living well up to its moniker, Texture is a cool restaurant worth a visit for reasonably fine dining with a pleasant twist.
